Jeffery Segall works at the Salon Meritage in Seal Beach where Orange County's largest massacre took place five years ago. Segall is a hairstylist who left Salon Meritage minutes before a shooting on Oct. 12, 2011 took the lives of some of his co-workers in Seal Beach. Today the salon has been completely remodeled and bears the same name. Segall says that not a day goes by that he doesn't think of his co-workers. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A flag marks the parking spot where David Caouette, 64, died after being shot while parked outside Salon Meritage. October 12 marks the fifth year since the 2011 mass shooting at the Salon Meritage hair salon in Seal Beach. Seal Beach on Monday October, 03, 2016. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Paul Wilson, husband of Salon Meritage shooting victim Christy Lynn Wilson, vents his frustration at confessed mass murderer Scott Dekraai during Dekraai's hearing at the Orange County Courthouse in 2015. Paul Wilson still carries a small blue velvet pouch with some of his wife's ashes. When he visits some of her favorite spots, or places she would have liked, he scatters a few. (Photo by Ken Steinhardt, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Visitors stroll along the Seal Beach Pier during a serene October evening. October 12 marks the fifth year since the 2011 mass shooting at the Salon Meritage hair salon. Seal Beach on Monday October, 03, 2016. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)

File photo of Paul Caouette, 41, of Costa Mesa. He is the son of David Caouette, 64, one of 8 people shot and killed at Salon Meritage on Oct. 12, 2011. Paul Caouette, a real estate agent, moved down from Pismo, where he'd lived for 17 years, to Orange County after his dad was shot so he could be with his mom and sisters. He also served on the committee that guided plans for the memorial.

Paul Caouette is the son of David Caouette, 64, one of 8 people shot and killed at Salon Meritage on Oct. 12, 2011. He is shown above in 2015 at a memorial for the Seal Beach victims. His father was shot in the head while sitting in his Land Rover outside the salon. Last week, Paul Caouette was in that same parking lot, painting a silhouette on the spot where his father parked his car. (Photo by Michael Goulding, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Seal Beach, a small Orange County beach town, was the site of the worst massacre in Orange County's history. Pictured is Main Street in Seal Beach. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jeffery Segall is embraced by a customer who has become a good friend. Segall is very attached to his job at Salon Meritage, where he has become close friends with clients and co-workers. Segall was photographed in Seal Beach on Monday. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jeffery Segall, a Salon Meritage hairstylist, locks the salon for the night in Seal Beach. Segall often opens the salon and says "Good morning, everybody," as he turns on the lights in remembrance of the co-workers he lost during a mass shooting in the salon five years ago. Segall believed that getting back to work was important in dealing with the trauma of the event. He also advocated for the salon to be reopened. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)

This photo combo shows the people who were killed during a shooting at a salon at Seal Beach, Calif., on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011. On the top row, from left, are Michelle Fournier, Michele Fast, David Caouette and Christy Lynn Wilson. On bottom row, from left are Laura Webb Elody, Lucia Bernice Kondas, Victoria Ann Buzzo and Randy Lee Fannin. (AP Photo)

His wife, Hattie, now 78, was shot but survived. Since the shooting she has overcome a stroke, trained as a grief counselor and, like the majority of her family, become an advocate against the death penalty.

“I haven’t seen her or held her for five years,” said Hattie Stretz, her voice breaking in her first interview since the shooting. “It’s harder this year.”

There have been births, marriages, deaths.

For those not directly affected, the shooting is not something that pops up every day.

“People in this community, who were here, will never forget what happened,” Seal Beach Mayor Sandra Massa-Lavitt said. “You don’t think of it every day, but those who were here will always remember it.”

The massacre, residents say, does not define Seal Beach – a town that prides itself for its family atmosphere, its village-like Main Street, its homespun events.

“I would hope we are defined for other, wonderful things, like atmosphere of family, community, reaching out to others that are less fortunate,” said Bob Vidal, pastor emeritus at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Old Town.

Scott Dekraai arrived at the salon armed with three guns, shot his ex-wife first and then the others in a two-minute rampage. Dekraai, the ex-husband of hairstylist Michelle Fournier, pleaded guilty in 2014 to killing the eight and attempting to murder a ninth victim. He is awaiting sentencing.

Dekraai and Fournier were in a bitter custody battle over their then-8-year-old son.

Today, the boy is in middle school, plays baseball and loves skateboarding. His new passion is surfing.

“He just got a surf rack for his bike so he can bike to the beach,” Huff said.

She describes their Orange County home as having a little bit of a “surf theme for him” and “beach theme for me” – along with some of their mom’s things, like a comfy big chair that she loved.

Huff, who went back to college for a master’s degree, said she’s “in a good place.” She and her family are now beginning to blend in and she wants to keep it that way – hoping to avoid well-meant but uncomfortable questions from those who know her or know about her.

“We’re trying to get as close to normal life as we can without Mom,” she said.

“The biggest thing for us is we want people to know we just want to be happy and normal and get a sense of our lives back, but also we respect other people’s privacy and we want others to respect ours.”

This week, she plans to bake a lemon birthday cake with cheese cream frosting for her older brother, Chad – “cause that’s what Mom used to make him.”

THE FAMILIES

Paul Wilson carries a small blue velvet pouch with some of his wife’s ashes. When he visits some of her favorite spots, or places she would have liked, he scatters a few.

He just sprinkled some in Shanghai.

“I know she would love the energy in that city,” said Wilson, who works in the apparel industry.

His home in Lakewood, the childhood home of his wife, Christy, is now home to one of his three adult children: Kielynn, who chose to get married on her mother’s birthday and now has two children.

Wilson moved to Huntington Beach. Photos of his wife abound. On display is the cowboy hat she wore to the lake in the summer and the leopard-print gloves she wore in the winter.

Paul Caouette, whose father David was shot in the head while sitting in his Land Rover outside the salon, was in that same parking lot last week.

Caouette, 41, arrived with friends to paint artwork honoring his dad on the parking lot spot where his dad’s car was the day he got killed. The small commercial center, which sits back from Pacific Coast Highway, was a regular destination for the elder Caouette. It houses his favorite lunch spot, Patty’s Place.

Caouette got married last year, to a woman he met at his dad’s memorial.

“I feel that my dad had a hand in that,” he said.

His mother, Paula, lost her home to foreclosure despite rallying by friends and neighbors to help out. She is considering moving to Oregon to be closer to one of her daughters, he said.

For the Stretz couple, who lost their daughter Laura, there are two new grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. One of them is named Laura.

Hattie Stretz remembers seeing her bloodied arm in shreds and pretending to play dead so she would not be shot again. Stretz thought the gunman had just killed her husband, who had actually left the salon through a front door moments before the gunman entered through the back door.

“I was thinking, ‘Oh my God. I can’t die. I have to stay alive. My kids won’t be able to stand losing Laura and Tom and me,’” she said.

She mourns the death of her daughter and close friends, such as hairstylist Victoria Buzzo, who she thought of as another daughter.

Hairstylist Lorraine Bruyelle, who escaped being at the salon that afternoon because her daughter wanted a snack after school, said she and her husband divorced after the shooting and she left the salon business. She’s now a real estate agent.

“It made me realize that life is short,” said Bruyelle, 51. “All of them got up that morning thinking nothing would happen to them. …You should do what you want to do. If this could happen in a small town, it could happen anywhere.”

“Every year, there’s always something there,” said Segall, who that day five years ago left the salon early because a customer canceled. “I think about Randy (Fannin, the owner.) I hear Victoria (Buzzo) laughing all the time.

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